CHR IST IS GOD
JESUS
By Oswald J. Smith, Litt.D.*
A RIUS was the first heretic to at tack the Person of our Lord. He taught that Christ was neither God nor man, but a created Being be tween the two, the first and the noblest of God’s creations, but inferior in power and glory to the Father. Fierce and long the battle raged, until the whole church was rent asunder. Finally, in 325 A.D., the Nicea Council was called by Con stantine the Great, emperor of the Ro man world, over which he himself pre sided. It met at Nice, and lasted for over two months. Athanasius took up the fight against Arius and his follow ers. The Council, by an overwhelming majority, affirmed its belief in the deity of Christ, stating that He was “ of the same substance with the Father,” and Arius was excommunicated. The bish ops were convinced that the Christ who was their Saviour could not be less than God. From that day to this the Church has held that the Bible teaches the deity of Jesus Christ. Only the false cults still side with the heretic Arius. “ What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, say ing, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matt. 22:42-45). Does a father call his son his Lord? Never! But David did. He spoke of the Messiah as his Lord, and predicted that He would sit on God’s right hand, and that His enemies would become His footstool. Hence He was more than a son; He was his Lord and his God. Then was Jesus Christ born of man or of God? If Joseph was His father, then He was not the Son of God. If He was conceived by a Roman soldier, or any other man, He was not conceived of the Holy Ghost. If He had an earthly father He had a sinful nature, so that He could not become man’s Saviour. Only the God-man could redeem men. Jesus Christ was virgin-born; there fore He was God the Son. *Pastor of the Peoples Church, To ronto, Canada.
exclamation, if spoken to a mere mor tal, would. be nothing short of blas phemy. Thomas recognized Him as God and rightly so. Now let us examine Romans 9:5. The best translation of the Greek, accord ing to some authorities, is the Berkeley version: “ There are the fathers, and from them in human lineage sprang Christ, he who is God over all, blessed forever.” Here Jesus Christ is again called God, “ God over all.” How then can men doubt His deity? Unitarianism has no answer. Christadelphianism can not explain Him away. Some day the adherents of all false cults will ac knowledge that He is very God of very God. We turn next to Titus 2:13. To get the best translation I read from the Centenary. “We look for the blessed hope and epiphany of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Not only is He here called God, He is designated “ our great God.” So once again Jesus Christ is God. Who then is man to deny it? Now let us turn to Hebrews 1:8: “ But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Here God the Father speaks to the Son and He calls Him God. “ Thy throne, O God.” Could language be plainer? Jesus is God. In Second Peter 1:1 we have the ex pression “ Our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Our authorized version does not translate it correctly. But in the Roman Catholic Bible, the Revised Standard Version, James Moffatt, Berke ley, and the Centenary, Jesus is called “ Our God.” Hence Peter, who knew Him well, recognized Him as God. The word “ God” as used here does not mean the Father, it means the Son. We turn now to First John 5:20. It is stated in this verse, “ He is the true God,” referring of course to Jesus Christ. I have again quoted from the Centenary Translation. This is one of the strongest statements in the Bible. John, now an old man, who in his youth was closely associated with Christ in the flesh, calls Him “ the true God.” What a confession! He was in very deed God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, very God of very God, in a word—“true God.”
Jesus Is Called God Again and again the Bible calls Jesus God. “ Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23). “ The Word was God” (John 1:3). There is the eternal ever present “was.” Jesus always was and always will be God. In verse 14 John says that “ The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Note it is the same Word —Logos in the Greek. The Christ who appeared in flesh and tabernacled among men, John says, “ was God.” That should settle it. Even when speaking of Christ’s in carnation, John had to state that he had beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. He had seen Him in His glory, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he never could forget the outshining of His deity. Peter, too, recalled that marvelous sight on the holy mount. And that same di vine glory John saw again, when he beheld Him on the Isle of Patmos. Yes, “ the Word was God.” But look now at John 1:18. It is translated thus in the Centenary Trans lation: “No one has ever seen God; God, only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father—he has interpreted him.” What a statement! How absolutely con vincing in the original! The Word in carnate, Jesus Christ, is now called “ God, only begotten,” and He is still one with the Father, for it speaks of Him as being “ in the bosom of the Father,” though incarnate. It is not “ the only begotten Son,” as in the Au thorized; it is “the only begotten God.” Hence He could say: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9), and “ He that seeth me seeth him that sent me” (John 12:45). To look at Jesus was to look at God for He was God, God veiled in human flesh, “ God, only begotten.” In these remarkable statements is asserted in the most direct manner the full deity of the incarnate Word. Our next passage is found in John 20:28 where Thomas cries, “ My Lord and my God.” Here again Jesus is called God. Has ever a man been ad dressed thus? Of course not. Such an
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